Tunis Air produced a major improvement in net profits for 1996 and is heading for another good result this year on the back of forecasts of rapidly rising passenger numbers. The airline has also revealed plans to expand and replace a large part of its fleet.
The Tunisian flag carrier registered a pre-tax profit jump to 26.57 million dinars ($24.2 million), compared with 15.1 million dinars the previous years.
The company saw passenger numbers increase by 4.2%, to 2.69 million people, in 1996 and an earlier 1997 forecast of a traffic rise of 5% has already been heavily revised upwards to at least 10% because of a booming local tourist market. Tunis Air dominates scheduled and charter services into the country, with tourism accounting for about two-thirds of its total traffic.
Against the background of improving financial fortunes, Tunis Air has begun talks with European airlines on the establishment of a possible alliance. Air France, British Airways - partly because of its strong position in the French domestic market - Lufthansa and Swissair are on Tunis Air's list of potential partners. It also has a cost-reduction plan under way which includes looking for foreign partners for its technical centre and catering operations.
Tunis Air says that it has approval to buy 19 aircraft over the next eight years to replace aircraft such as the Boeing 737.
Source: Flight International
